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Child's Play Teaser Trailer: Killer Dolls Get a High-Tech Upgrade

The trailer for the Child's Play remake has arrived. Following the success of John Carpenter's original Halloween in 1978, the '80s saw an influx of slasher franchises like Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street, along with other less-successful movies. Arguably, though, the most unique of the '80s slasher properties is Child's Play, which was created by Don Mancini and kicked off in 1988. The series itself revolves around Chucky, a seemingly harmless Good Guys dolls that secretly contains the soul of a serial killer named Charles Lee Ray.

Brad Dourif played both Charles Ray and Chucky in the original Child's Play, and has lent his voice to the latter in every sequel released since. While the first movie was a mostly straight-faced horror film, the franchise has evolved into more of a horror-comedy over time, especially after Mancini (who's written every Chucky movie so far) took over directing with 2004's Seed of Chucky. Mancini is currently developing a Child's Play TV series (titled Chucky) for Syfy, with Dourif expected to reprise his voice role yet again. However, neither Mancini nor Dourif are involved with the remake, which only just revved up its marketing machine this past week.

MGM and Orion Pictures have released the first Child's Play trailer online, following its debut in theaters with their new horror movie, The Prodigy. In this version, the killer is an out of control AI robot from the fictional Buddi doll line. The toy was named for the '80s My Buddy brand that inspired Mancini to write the spec script Blood Buddy, which was later reworked for the original Child's Play. Tyler Burton Smith (Quantum Break) wrote the script for the remake, with Lars Klevberg (Polaroid) directing.

Unlike the viral teaser released a few days ago, the Child's Play trailer offers some fleeting glimpses of the murderous Buddi doll. It also introduces the movie's human characters, which includes Aubrey Plaza (Parks & Rec) as Karen Barclay, a single mother who buys the doll for her son Andy (Gabriel Bateman). Meanwhile, Atlanta's Brian Tyree Henry shows up here as Mike Norris, a detective investigating a string of mysterious homicides that leads him back to the Buddi toyline. As for Buddi himself: the doll looked similar to Chucky in the first look image released last year, but is being reimagined for the remake as a combination of practical and digital effects.

All things considered, the trailer's a pretty good tease of the R-rated mayhem to come in Child's Play proper. At the same time, longtime fans seem rather wary of the remake, between Mancini's lack of involvement and the movie's questionable sci-fi twist on the franchise's premise. It doesn't help that Mancini is still actively working on the Child's Play series and has already made it clear that the remake doesn't have his blessing. Indeed, the only reason the remake is happening is because MGM released the original film and owns the Child's Play brand. This allows them to reboot the property as they deem fit (with or without Mancini), but has done little to help convince Chucky loyalists that they should get behind this film.